Even In Death
by Deceptifish
Summary: Even in death, there is no rule but Megatron's. Some bots simply take longer to learn this than others. Post Animated.


Because of his stubborn tendency towards life, Starscream wasn't just good at dying; he was good at playing dead. Even so, he had been surprised by how deep he had penetrated the Autobot Maximum Security Prison before finding himself surrounded. They must have relaxed a bit, with all of the most wanted Decepticons behind bars. That was another unique perk to his condition—everyone assumed that he _was _dead. They'd probably be revising their security standards after this encounter, though. That didn't matter to Starscream, at least, not so long as he accomplished his objective.

He could die, of course. Megatron had proved that over and over again. It was staying dead that was tricky and unpredictable. He never knew just how long it would last, so he couldn't afford to die in here. At least, not for real. He let one of the Autobots hit him. It was just a glancing blow, but he was a great actor. He reeled and fell, his Decepticon mass shaking the ground beneath him. His optics blinked off, his energy started to fade. Several of the Autobots approached, ever so cautious.

"Offlined," one of them remarked.

"You sure?"

The speaker reached down and pried open Starscream's spark chamber. Such a violation was uncomfortable and embarrassing to a functioning mech, but Starscream wasn't really alive. "Nothing in there," the Autobot said. "Nothing left to see here," he announced. He must have been a higher ranking officer. Maybe even a Prime. Clearly, he didn't want the lower ranking guards getting too good of a look at the top-secret Decepticon chassis that had found its way into the lower levels of the prison. "Strange," he murmured. "Usually we have to deal with 'Cons breaking out, not breaking in."

Starscream's sensors, which still functioned even when playing possum, informed him that only the Prime was left with him. It was just as he had hoped. He waited for the Prime to kneel down to inspect his spark chamber again, then struck. His optics flared, and in an instant he was on his feet, talons pinning the Prime's arms to his torso.

"You're dead," the Prime said, baffled.

"Can't argue with that," Starscream admitted. "I want the access codes to the lower level cells."

"I can't give you those," the Prime replied. Starscream admired his defiance, but killed him anyway. It was easier to extract data from an offline processor than an online and resistant one.

* * *

There weren't any guards on the lower level. The prisoners there were too dangerous and deviant even for that. Only cameras watched over the likes of Megatron. Cameras were easily dispatched.

Starscream stood in front of the cell for several kliks before the occupant finally looked up and acknowledged him. He had been hoping for surprise, but Megatron had never been one to give him what he wanted.

"You're dead," Megatron said. It wasn't an exclamation or a threat, just a fact.

"So I keep hearing. If I open this cell, are you going to fight me?" It was a precaution he had to take. Starscream and Megatron hadn't parted on the best of terms. Though to be fair, for them, the best of terms hadn't happened yet.

"Open this cell, Starscream, and you're safe from me until we're safely away from here."

That was enough for Starscream. He punched in the code that he had obtained from the Prime. The door slid open. Several security measures clicked off. Megatron stood to his full height and walked out of the cell. He stretched out his arms, as if unsure of his freedom.

"Let's go," Starscream said. "They'll be wondering why the cameras are off by now."

Megatron did not follow. He looked around at the other cells in the area. "Shockwave," he insisted. "Blitzwing. Lugnut."

"I didn't come for them," Starscream informed him. Megatron took a step towards him, and Starscream took a nimble step back. "And you promised I'd be safe from you."

Megatron grunted in acceptance. "What about my weapons?"

"They don't keep those here. I'd think you'd settle for simply getting out of here."

Megatron needed no further encouragement. Without any more discussion, he followed Starscream out of the prison through a waste disposal system. Both silently mused how fitting the departure was for the other—as trash.

They didn't speak, even when they reached the surface. They didn't need to. They could hear sirens ringing throughout all of Iacon. Starscream transformed into his vehicle mode. Megatron followed suit, and Starscream noticed that Megatron still favored the mode he had used on Earth. Or, more likely, he hadn't had the opportunity to scan something new, and his old mode was over fifty years outdated.

They slipped through the sensor net and escaped the atmosphere. Space was cold, but heat radiated slowly, so they were still fairly warm when they reached the asteroid megacycles later. Starscream transformed as he landed, determined to stay a step ahead of his former leader. Even unarmed, Megatron could be dangerous, and Starscream didn't trust him. He never had. Just to stay on the safe side, he brought up one of his null rays and trained it on Megatron's chest—right where the proud Decepticon insignia sat.

"Put it down," Megatron said. He had also reverted to his robot form. Outside of the fluorescent lighting of the prison, he seemed to be all power and shadow. "You didn't break me out of there to kill me." Even after decacycles of imprisonment, Megatron still radiated confidence and control. Starscream hated him for that. Even more, Starscream hated that he obeyed without even thinking about it.

"You owe me," Starscream insisted.

"I haven't killed you yet," Megatron agreed. "Though we both know it wouldn't matter if I did."

"No."

"I heard you were dead. That you stayed dead."

Starscream shrugged. "It's hard to keep track of time when nonfunctional," he admitted. He wouldn't admit to Megatron that _he had _thought he was going to stay dead as well. When he had felt the fragment of the All Spark extracting itself from his processor, he had panicked. He had crashed. He had died. He had woken up alone in a trash heap, as he had many times before, except much more surprised. The All Spark fragment was certainly gone. He had checked, and checked, and still checked sometimes when he was feeling uncomfortable or forgetful. It was gone, and he should have been dead.

It wasn't a one-time thing, either. Shortly after he had been revived, that female clone had come along. Slipstream had taken advantage of his weakened state and beaten Starscream to slag. Again, he had flickered online again megacycles later.

"How do you do it?" Megatron asked.

"Do you really think I'd share that with you?" Starscream laughed. In truth, he was as clueless as anyone. He'd never tell Megatron that, though, not so long as his supposed immortality was a bargaining chip.

"You will," Megatron said. "Not now, but someday."

Starscream glared at Megatron, feeling just as he had so many stellar cycles ago when Megatron had humiliated him on a regular basis, just to remind him who was in charge. "You _owe _me," Starscream repeated. "I could have left you to rot in that Autobot prison."

"So what is it that you want from me?"

"Leadership of the Decepticons."

Now Starscream finally got the surprise he had been hoping for when he had first rescued Megatron. His former leader hadn't known what to expect, but he hadn't been expecting such a request. Surprise quickly changed to amusement, and Megatron actually laughed. The sound sent coolant rushing through Starscream's coils, and he shivered. He hoped Megatron hadn't noticed.

"I've been in prison for decacycles," Megatron said. "I certainly haven't been here to stop you. Neither has Shockwave, or Strika, or Cyclonus, or any _number _of Decepticons more qualified than you. You should have _had _that leadership."

Starscream scowled, and his fists clenched. "The remaining Decepticons seem to think that there is no cause without you. Or that our cause is simply hopeless. They have refused to rally under my leadership."

This made Megatron laugh even harder. "So, I was correct to think of you as incompetent for all those stellar cycles. Even with me behind energon bars, you prove yourself unable to command even the scant remainder of my army. And you think I'm going to just _tell _them to follow you, now that I am _free_?"

"I got you out of there," Starscream reminded him. "I am a great warrior, and I am impervious to even death." He swung his arms back up, pointing his null rays at Megatron again. "I can give you back to the Autobots, in exchange for immunity."

Megatron moved suddenly, quicker than a bot his size had any right to move. Starscream staggered backwards as a fist collided with the bottom of his chin, and then doubled over as a second fist hit him in the torso, below his empty spark chamber. By the time he regained his posture, Megatron had forcibly ripped the null rays from Starscream's arms. "It's good to see that you can still feel pain," Megatron noted. "This is just a precaution, Starscream. I will feel… safer… with your weapons in my possession. So unless you think you can take me servo to servo, you will stand down."

Starscream shrieked at Megatron. His rage overpowered his common sense, and he leapt at the larger mech. Megatron grabbed him by the neck mid-pounce, and threw him onto the ground. He placed one heavy stabilizer on Starscream's cockpit and aimed the Seeker's own weapons back at him.

"Do you know what your weakness is, Starscream?" Megatron asked. His voice was cool, devoid of emotion. "Your weakness is your greatest strength. You think that you can't die, that I can't kill you. Well, seeker, you are wrong. However you do it makes no difference. To me, it only means that I can kill you over… and over… and over."

The null rays fired, and Starscream died again.

* * *

Megatron wasn't in sight when Starscream came back online. For a moment, the seeker thought that his former leader had simply stolen his prized weapons and left him on the asteroid. He shrieked and took to the air, intent on pursuit, despite the head start the other mech had gained. In microseconds, he realized his mistake, noticing Megatron standing a few hundred yards away. Covering his outburst, Starscream flew in vehicle mode, transforming back when he reached the other. Megatron gave him a scolding look, but didn't say anything.

"What now?" Starscream asked.

"Wait," Megatron replied.

"Hmph," Starscream grunted, but didn't press his luck. He didn't want to die again so soon after awakening. Dying more than once in a row was uncomfortable, to say the least.

After a few cycles of waiting in silence, a ship appeared in the distance. Starscream started to fidget, but Megatron simply watched it approach. Starscream stopped fidgeting. If Megatron wasn't worried, he couldn't afford to show weakness. As the ship grew closer, Starscream recognized it as belonging to the arms dealer, Swindle. That calmed his nerves some. Swindle was ruthless and greedy, even untrustworthy, but he had never proved to be particularly dangerous.

Swindle was clearly delighted to deal with his favorite customer, and it even cheered Megatron to have a fusion cannon on his arm and a pair of swords on his back again. He removed Starscream's null rays like they were something diseased and flung them on the ground at the seeker's feet. Despite having to scrounge them off of the dusty terrain, Starscream rushed to reattach them, so as not to be weaponless any longer than necessary.

"I think it's only fair to tell my favorite customer that a huge reward is being offered for his whereabouts," Swindle said, a tone of conspiracy in his vocalizer. "I might do well to look into this a little more… unless you would like to persuade me otherwise, mighty Megatron?"

In response, Megatron shot Starscream in the head.

This time when Starscream came back to life, both Megatron and Swindle were standing over him. A look of unsurpassed glee bloomed on the arms dealer's face. "Well, Megatron, what do you know?" he asked. "You strike a hard bargain, but I could make a fortune off of this! How does it work?"

"We're still trying to work out the details," Megatron admitted. "But you'll be the first to receive the secret. Would you like to give it a try?"

Before Starscream could protest, Swindle whipped a neutron rifle out of his storage compartment and blasted the seeker where his spark used to be. While he was offline, Megatron gave Swindle his null rays as a down payment.

* * *

It was more than two solar cycles before Starscream woke up this time. He was no longer on the asteroid. Instead he was on the floor of a small apartment, probably in one of the poorer areas of Cybertron. Megatron sat across the room, and spared him only a glance when he saw him moving. Starscream rolled over onto his servos and knees. In a fit of coughing, he vomited energon.

"I was starting to think you were dead for good," Megatron said.

"Don't… don't sound so disappointed," Starscream managed to rasp between coughs. He noticed to his dismay that his weapons were missing, and deduced what had happened to them without much trouble. It was miserable, being down on his knees in front of Megatron, of all mechs, sick and powerless. He had never felt so vulnerable, and hoped he would never have to again.

"I see death isn't good for your health."

"Is that… supposed to be… a joke?"

"Merely an observation," Megatron said. Of course, coming from him, the observation seemed suspiciously like a threat. "Now, Starscream, we need to talk."

"You… owe me."

Megatron stood up and crossed the room in three steps. He didn't bother to sit of squat or even bend over, forcing Starscream to look up at him. "I owe you nothing but your miserable life, seeker."

With his coughing fit over, Starscream pushed himself up to his feet. He still felt unwell and defenseless, but was determined to get through it.

"Maybe I can't kill you, Starscream, but I can hurt you," Megatron said. "Believe me when I say that this is something that I can do very well. You are much more valuable to me as an ally, given your… certain skills. In return for assisting me in the Autobot prison, you will be reinstated as my second-in-command, effective immediately. If you defy me, or attempt to overthrow me, I will enjoy making your life very uncomfortable."

Starscream scowled, and Megatron responded by grabbing him by the neck. "You're mine, Starscream. You may think you're invincible, but you're just another one of my Decepticons. You should understand that now more than ever."

"You can't control me, Megatron," Starscream said. He laughed, but it was a frail sound. "I'm a dead bot, remember? Not even you can control the dead."

"Don't be a fool, Starscream," Megatron replied. "Even in death, there is no rule but mine."


End file.
